Book Review: “The Study of the Bible in the Middle Ages” (By Beryl Smalley)

Beryl Smalley. The Study of the Bible in the Middle Ages (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1994). 

The aim of this book is to show how, despite the predominance of the four-fold sense of Scripture as an exegetical assumption and method, the literal-historical sense of Scripture rose to prominence throughout the middle ages, from about A.D. 700 to about A.D. 1300. This is an advanced text and assumes that the reader possesses a more than rudimentary knowledge of medieval history and culture, church tradition and structure, and a basic knowledge of Latin, French, and German (Smalley often uses non-English terms and sentences without translating or explaining them). 

Smalley commences her fine work with a brief treatment of the patristic fathers who most influenced the middle ages, namely, Origen, Jerome, Augustine, and to a lesser extent Bede. She then analyzes the complex array of ideas, institutions and personalities as embodied in several circles throughout this period where biblical studies most flourished. She concludes that the literal-historical sense of Scripture rose to prominence in the later portions of this period because of the shift of exegetical locus from the congregation to the academy or the monastery, the influence of Aristotelian thought via Thomas Aquinas, the novel interest in the natural world and the development of various sciences related thereto, and the complex ebb and flow of the discovery and loss of vital and influential texts. She “predicts” that the following period (i.e., the Renaissance) will be characterized by the sharp rise of critical scholarship and the corollary suspicion of, and attack upon, mysticism. 

While Smalley is quick to point out the inadequacies of her work, she has undoubtedly made a significant contribution to the understanding of the practice of hermeneutics in the Middle Ages, and I strongly recommend this work to anyone interested in the subject.